Nearly 140 million shoppers hit stores last week end with a clear message in hand for retailers. That’s an increase of 13% over last year. Shoppers expect good quality and low prices this holiday season according to a National Retail Federation survey. Another 55 million were estimated to shop via the web during the Black Friday week end.Now that Black Friday is over and shoppers have completed where do your holiday sales stand? We have heard from sources like the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council that just over one in ten consumers plan to buy jewelry this year. What do your early sales tell you? Early predictions suggested traditional items like diamond earrings would be popular. Was that true for your store?

The key to holiday sales this season is serving those full price customers with fabulous product selections while luring those value oriented shoppers with good quality lower priced merchandise. How effectively your store serves the needs of both shopper types will be very important. Early predictions suggest there will be more shoppers in stores and fewer entering with the intentions of purchasing jewelry and with the intentions of spending less on jewelry than last year. What sort of strategies do you have in place to address these common shopper attitudes?

What do your early season sales indications tell you about your customers this holiday season?

JCK